This invention relates in general to a vehicular seat assembly having a flexible air bag suppression sensor apparatus. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus and a method of installing a flexible sensor apparatus to a seat cushion.
Vehicular air bags play an important role in restraining a seat occupant in vehicular crash situations. However, air bags designed for adequately restraining a large sized occupant may not provide optimal restraint protection for a smaller sized occupant or for a child occupying a child seat. In addition, the deployment of an air bag corresponding to an unoccupied seat represents an unnecessary repair expense.
Sensor apparatuses have been proposed for detecting whether or not a given seat is occupied. These types of sensor apparatuses act as on/off switches in controlling the deployment of a corresponding air bag. However, these types of sensor apparatuses simply address the need for preventing the deployment an air bag when the seat is unoccupied.
Other sensor apparatuses have been proposed to detect the placement of an occupant in a given seat for the purpose of suppressing the deployment of a corresponding air bag. Specifically, these types of sensor apparatuses detect whether or not the front and/or rear portions of a given seat are occupied. In situations in which only the front or only the rear portion of the seat is occupied, a sensor apparatus provides a signal for controlling the degree in which the air bag is to be suppressed during deployment. However, these sensor apparatuses do not provide a means for suppressing the air bag when both the front and rear portions of the seat are occupied.
Other sensor apparatuses have been proposed which determine the weight of an occupant based on detected variations in seat occupancy loading for providing a means of controlling the degree in which a respective air bag is to be suppressed during deployment. However, these types of sensor apparatuses require that a sensor apparatus be directly mounted to the structure of a given seat and that the sensor apparatus itself be structural. Consequently, these sensor apparatuses are relatively massive. Additionally, these sensor apparatuses are typically sensitive to physical and environmental changes that affect the repeatability of the performance of the sensor apparatus.
Other sensor apparatuses include a flexible sensor apparatus mounted to a seating face of a seat cushion. The flexible sensor apparatus includes at least one sensor track disposed in at least one track channel in the seating face. The flexible sensor apparatus is capable of detecting both the size of a passenger and the presence of an occupied child seat for the purpose of controlling the degree in which a corresponding air bag is to be suppressed during deployment. The flexible sensor apparatus offers improved reliability, as well as the advantages of being nonstructural and compact.
This invention also concerns an apparatus and method of installing a flexible sensor apparatus to the seat cushion. The apparatus and method provide an economical means to accurately and consistently mount a flexible sensor apparatus on a seat cushion.
In a preferred embodiment, an installation device for installing a flexible sensor apparatus on a seat cushion includes a frame. The frame slidably supports a mount. The frame supports an installation fixture. The installation fixture includes a saddle having locating recesses and ports extending from the recesses to a vacuum source. A vacuum from the vacuum source retains the flexible sensor apparatus in the locating recesses.
A preferred method according to this invention of installing a flexible sensor apparatus to a seat cushion includes the steps of: providing an installation device having an installation fixture and a lid opposing the installation fixture; locating the flexible sensor apparatus to the installation fixture; holding the flexible sensor apparatus to the installation fixture; aligning the seat cushion to the flexible sensor apparatus; mounting the seat cushion on the installation fixture; aligning the lid with the seat cushion; moving the lid and installation fixture relatively toward each other; and engaging the lid and the seat cushion.
Various other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.